Flames Don't Burn in Blue
by Mapping the Soul
Summary: Munakata realises that he should have allowed the red of passion to burn out his blue. M/M implications. One-shot. Contains series spoilers!


**Rating:** K+

**Warning:** M/M

**Fandom:** K Project / [K] / K

**Pairing/Relationship:** Suoh/Munakata

**Status:** Complete

**Author:** Mapping the Soul

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything.

**Summary:** Munakata realises that he should have allowed the red of passion to burn out his blue.

If you read, review and/or favourite, thank you!

*Also posted on AO3.

I think this is one of my "nonsense" pieces that don't make much sense to me after I've written it. Well, actually, it might only make sense to me. It's actually taken a while to get it done because I haven't been able to come to terms with the ending of K. Well, I'm just getting this out of the way. I wanted to share it because I don't know if I'll ever be able to write about this pair. So much angst.

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**Flames Don't Burn in Blue**

A year later when there really is no blood, no bone, no ash, Munakata Reishi steps down from his position as the Blue King. He strips himself of the blue uniform and leaves the power and authority behind. He's grown to hate the burden of duty. He dresses casually as a man, not a King and strolls through the streets of Japan. While everything is in order (as it should be) Munakata is a hidden mess. The world moves on in a peaceful blue sphere and red is nowhere to be seen. HOMRA seems to have vanished off the face of the Earth, just as their King has but the bar stands tall, a little less lively than he remembers it, but it's still there.

He knows because he can see Fushimi Saruhiko exiting with a sigh. The now second in command at SECPTER 4 glances briefly at the ex-captain and bows once politely as he passes by. A year seems to have been enough to give Fushimi some maturity. Munakata gives the younger man a curt nod as he walks pass HOMRA and searches for memories of the Red King that belongs only to him. However, when he reaches the old school, he realises that Suoh Mikoto was never his alone. As a potential King, there were people flocking around him all the time, Totsuka Tatara being the prime example.

Munakata scoffs as he sits at the old desk and runs his fingers across the edges of the table. He repeats old actions and leans against the chair, in the same slow and calm manner that Suoh often did. He closes his eyes, exhales a sigh like how that person used to and lets the wind change his hairstyle—thirty times in seconds. Munakata frowns as the image comes back to mind. No matter how the wind likes to play it, Suoh's hair always falls back into place. Munakata's hair however, is now a dishevelled mess.

He thinks back a little more and remembers how he'd walk through the hallway and stop right at the window that framed Suoh. He can still see the way Suoh would turn his head slowly when called but the person he ends up looking at is his best friend, Kusanagi Izumo. Munakata remembers the routine and sighs again at his own behaviour. He usually turns away and walks on before they notice and the cycle repeats until they take different colours under their wings. Munakata's eyes flutter open as he turned to stare out the window.

_What kind of view did you get from this place?_

_Why did you like it so much?_

_Can I still see it now?_

It is a futile attempt at trying to understand Suoh Mikoto on a deeper level. The man liked solitude and it was hard to grasp anymore than he wanted to let on. Besides that, the Japan that he's living in now is different from the one that Suoh often observed. Munakata reaches for the packet of cigarettes in his pocket and pulls a random stick out and presses it between his lips. He gazes around the classroom again before he gets to his feet and moves on.

Out of habit, Munakata reaches for the non-existent lighter and folds his fingers together when he realises _again_ that he's dropped the habit. He only carries the smokes around as a reminder now. However, the air isn't as toxic as he remembers it and there's no one for him to hold a deceptively easygoing conversation with. To top it off, no one lights a smoke like Suoh Mikoto and no one lights a flame like him either.

Munakata rolls the smoke between his lips as he exits the school. Kusanagi has told him earlier that the morning is reserved for him. He decides that he'll take that because he doesn't really want to bump into the rest of HOMRA—what's left of them anyway. As the only person who left the island after the blast, Munakata knows that there are many questions. SECPTER 4 had them in the reports that he was required to write too, but a whole year later, the papers are still free of ink.

Munakata finds himself at a standstill when he reaches and he doesn't even know when or how he managed to arrive. He stares straight ahead, still denying it as he does not lower his gaze to meet the cold and grey stone. He blinks once and the Red King is there, standing casually in front of him, with a lazy smirk on his face. There is a mocking glint in Suoh's eyes and Munakata scoffs at the air. They exchange a silent conversation that Munakata is not used to and it irritates him.

Exhaling a frosty breath he pushes up the frame of his glasses, Munakata lowers his gaze and almost stares a whole through the plain and boring stone that is just like Suoh. He kneels on one knee and reaches into his pocket for the packet of cigarettes that he opened earlier. Setting it in front of the stone, Munakata parts his lips in silence. He takes the smoke from his lips and crushes it in his hands as he stands. The former Blue King backs away in silence when he hears the oncoming footsteps.

The falling snow hides his footprints and the blood that appears on his hands are washed away by the snow that lands on them. Munakata shoves his hands into his pocket and walks to find red. Munakata's pilgrimage is not new. He has been on it for a year, because flames don't burn in blue. They may have a slight hue but most of it is a bright and lively red. Flames of passion and pursuit are especially bright and that is something that a calm, cool and cold watery blue lacks.

No one lights a flame like Suoh Mikoto. Therefore, no one can set Munakata's heart ablaze. No one's red is strong and overwhelming enough to overpower the minute blue that still exists within Munakata's heart. When he looks back to see the crowd greeting the Red King, Munakata realises that he should have allowed his blue to be diminished by the red that continues to pull at his heart strings even though he can no longer see it.

_Fin._


End file.
